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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Mickey Mouse, Fred Flintstone and the Science of Animation

Did you know that cartoons and movies are made from a series
of still images? Here is how
it works…. The human brain retains an image for a fraction of a second longer
than the eye actually sees it. That is why the world doesn't suddenly go black
every time you blink. When you watch a movie, what you are actually seeing are
individual still frames of film projected at 24 frames per second. Each of
these frames is separated by darkness, so you are sitting in a dark theatre
about half of the time. What you perceive is one image blending into the next,
giving the illusion of movement and continuity. The dark spaces are
"ignored" by the brain. This is called “Persistence of Vision”.

PERFORM SOME ANIMATION SCIENCE OVER THE THANKSGIVING BREAK –
HERE’S HOW !

Make a flipbook using index cards, a stack of post-it-notes,
or even an old book (with your parents’ permission). Watch the two YouTube videos below to learn how to make a
flipbook. You Tube Video 1